KC-46 Arrivals Herald End of KC-10 Era at McGuire Even as Capacity Questions Persist

KC-46 Arrivals Herald End of KC-10 Era at McGuire Even as Capacity Questions Persist

Nov. 14, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J.—The arrival of two KC-46 Pegasus refuelers to the 305th and 514th Air Mobility Wings on Nov. 9 proved both joyous and bittersweet for Airmen as the new capability signaled the end of the KC-10 era at the base even amid continued concerns about air refueling capacity.

When the roaring new engine of “Pudgy 01” powered down for the first time, silhouetted by a cloudless blue sky at the mouth of Hangar 2021, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst’s role as the East Coast hub for next-generation global refueling operations came into clearer focus for hundreds of Airmen and special guests.

Still, base commanders admit the new platform, hampered by delays and pending Boeing technology fixes, will likely not be ready to take on missions for a year.

“The aircraft is pretty capable of arriving in its current condition,” 305th AMW commander Col. Scott M. Wiederholt told Air Force Magazine, citing three Air Mobility Command interim capability releases that clear the refueler for 70 percent of weapons systems.

“We can certify those for operational use now, so the KC-46 will take up that bandwidth and certain elements and mission taskings to allow the main tanker force—the KC-135 and the remaining KC-10s—to continue, to deploy and operate around the world and in other capacities,” he added.

McGuire will receive 24 KC-46 refuelers over the next 18 months and will retire its remaining 21 KC-10s in that time. Seven have already been sent to the boneyard, with three more scheduled for divestment before the year is out.

The first KC-46 Pegasus tankers arrive at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. Staff video by Abraham Mahshie, edited by Mike Tsukamoto.

However, since 2020, there have been at least eight Category 1 deficiencies (six in 2020 and two this year) that have prevented the KC-46 from conducting real-world missions. On the day of the celebratory arrival of its first two aircraft, base leaders insisted such fixes were normal.

“Like any weapon system, there’s challenges and upgrades and block upgrades that occur throughout the life cycle of that aircraft. It’s going to be similar with the KC-46,” Wiederholt said.

The six Category 1 deficiencies in 2020 included auxiliary power unit duct clamp cracks, a problem with the boom telescope actuator preventing the refueling of slower aircraft, and most importantly, a problem with the Remote Vision System (RVS) that made it hard for boom operators to discern depth perception in certain lighting conditions. The RVS fix is not due for three years, but Boeing promises an enhancement soon.

The deficiencies delayed initial operational test and evaluation for the KC-46.

Wiederholt doesn’t expect McGuire’s KC-46s to be tasked for missions for at least a year, even as KC-10s move to the boneyard at a pace of about one a month beginning in January 2022.

“It’s going to take us about that long to get a squadron fully up to speed and all of our aircrew and maintainers ready to generate, fly, and then operate the aircraft,” he said. “I would say that that’s pretty normal whenever you receive a weapon system.”

At present, the 2nd Air Refueling Squadron has four trained KC-46 crews and is building up to 26 crews over the next year to 18 months.

End of the KC-10 Era

The KC-10 played a prominent role during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1991. In the post-9/11 era, KC-10s were integral to protecting the homeland and were used nearly 1,400 times during operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

“As a longtime KC-10 guy, that’s the only weapon system that I’ve flown,” said 87th Air Base Wing vice commander Col. Robert D. McAllister. “There is a little bit of sadness.”

McAllister flew 4,900 hours over a 22-year career in the KC-10 that included multiple deployments to Iraq. His most memorable flight, however, was a simple repositioning after deployment in November 2011 when he took on a 30-year Air Force veteran on space available from Scott Air Force Base, Ill., to Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

“My most special flight in a KC-10 is [when] my dad was a retiree,” he said of his father, who has since died. “So, here he gets to see his son doing what he loves on the weapon system.”

On July 14, 2020, McAllister volunteered to send his KC-10 out with class.

“It was an honor for me to take the first one from McGuire and the first one in the whole fleet to the boneyard,” he said, noting the mixed crew of Reserve and Active-duty members that flew the KC-10 to its resting place at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.

While the arrival of the two KC-46s drew mixed emotions, McAllister thinks about the Air Force’s new capabilities and the excitement he senses in young Airmen.

“It’s gonna be a great weapon system,” he said. “Everyone says they love to fly it. They’re excited about it. It’s gonna bring these new capabilities. It’s like getting a new car.”

KC-46 pilot Lt. Col. Nick Arthur told Air Force Magazine the new refueler brings key advantages over the KC-10 he used to fly.

“It’s a super comfortable plane to fly, all the advanced avionics we could want in the cockpit, tons of situational awareness,” he said.

Among the most important features is onboard equipment that gives the pilot what Arthur called “battlespace situational awareness,” rather than relying on radio calls from AWACS and other command and control platforms for updates.

“So before, you’re just kind of waiting on the C2 platforms to give you the awareness that they think you need, whereas now we have more of an ability to get the awareness on our own,” he said.

Senior Airman Dominic Baverso, 21, was not even born when the KC-10, with its round, steam dials, first went into service. For the boom operator, making the transition to the KC-46 has been smooth, even with reported RVS challenges.

“The technology now, it just tells you the issues flat out,” he said. Baverso explained that gauge readings from legacy platforms require a series of steps and prior system knowledge to diagnose a problem.

“There’s obviously still a need for systems knowledge. However, the airplane helps you come to a final decision as to what is happening in that moment,” he said. “It’s just honestly altogether a really awesome, really great airplane, really capable airplane, especially compared to the legacy platforms.”

The Fixes and the Future

McGuire base commanders and lawmakers briefed on the KC-46 deficiencies still expressed confidence that America’s global refueling requirements will not be diminished even as the number of tankers in the active fleet grows smaller.

“It’s not just about managing tails, it’s about managing people,” said Col. Erik G. Brine, vice commander of the 514th Air Mobility Wing.

Brine offered that the pace of training is keeping pace with forecasts for global tanker needs. Likewise, until it fully divests, the KC-10 will continue to operate missions.

McAllister said U.S. Transportation Command and Air Mobility Command have a plan to “augment” during the next two years of transition to the KC-46.

“In terms of our adversaries, we still have the ability and the capacity with about 68 percent of our tankers in the Guard and Reserve, so we rely on that,” he said.

McAllister said the Air Force is providing funds to get more KC-135 capacity from the Guard and Reserve on a volunteer status.

Wiederholt added that with interim operational capability, which frees up the Pegasus for more missions, the KC-46 will begin to take up bandwidth in the near-term.

“That is the key component of the interim capabilities release,” he said. “We can certify those for operational use now.”

New Jersey Democrat and House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Andy Kim said he has heard that the Air Force plans to keep capacity up.

“We’ve been able to get a good sense of the choreography of that transition,” he told Air Force Magazine.

Kim also said he was confident in Boeing’s ability to make the course corrections needed on schedule.

“I’m not concerned because I feel like we’ve had very honest conversations over the years … about this aircraft and making sure that we have that commitment to get everything to where we need to be,” he said. “There’s always going to be some challenges when there is a changeover, that kind of era of technology.”

Boeing told Air Force Magazine in a statement that the new RVS 2.0 system with full-color cameras, 4K ultra-high definition screens, and high dynamic range sensor and display technologies is expected to be delivered in 2024.

“The specific timeline is subject to the efforts of both Boeing and the US Air Force,” the statement read.

In the meantime, Boeing is implementing an “interim enhancement” known as enhanced RVS, which includes upgrades that reduce image distortion.

“This will improve human factors for the aerial refueling operator by eliminating physiological effects and eye fatigue,” the statement read.

New Jersey Democrat and chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Menendez celebrated the KC-46 arrival and said sustaining America’ s refueling capacity will require lawmakers to shepherd the National Defense Authorization Act to passage intact.

“It is a tremendous day for the joint base, a tremendous day for American ingenuity, and a tremendous day for national security,” he said. “This is part of a continuing obligation to make sure that as we deal with the National Defense Authorization bill, that we have the wherewithal to keep it on track, to have what we need to be able to have the mobility anywhere in the world.”

For the Airmen of McGuire, the arrival also means a new culture that will involve cross-training C-17 and C-130 crews.

“We’re developing a new culture, right? This is not going to be the KC-135 culture. It’s not going to be the KC-10 culture. It’s going to be the KC-46 culture,” Wiederholt said. “It’s going be fun to watch and fun to watch that culture grow.”

Pratt & Whitney Won’t Protest GE’s Win of F-15EX Engine Contract

Pratt & Whitney Won’t Protest GE’s Win of F-15EX Engine Contract

Nov. 12, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Pratt & Whitney has opted not to protest the Air Force’s sole-source contract to GE Aviation to power all the service’s F-15EX fighters, a contract worth $1.58 billion.  

GE’s contract, awarded Oct. 29, starts with 29 of its F110-GE-129 engines followed by seven option lots for a total of 329 engines, running ten years, if all the options are exercised. The Air Force is planning to build between 144 and 200 F-15EXs.

Pratt issued a short statement saying only that it “will not submit a protest regarding the F-15EX propulsion decision,” adding that it is “proud to continue our support of the USAF’s F-15 fleet.” Pratt’s F100-PW-220 flies in the F-15C fleet today. Meanwhile, its F100-PW-229 “is a world-class option in the area of performance, reliability, and safety for current and future F-15 and F-16 customers for decades to come,” the company said in a comment aimed at prospective export sales of those aircraft.

The Air Force initially planned to award the entire F-15EX propulsion work to GE, as its was the only engine certified for the aircraft and the Air Force wanted the acquisition to be as non-developmental as possible. After Pratt protested, the Air Force agreed to let the company offer its engine, with the proviso that Pratt bear the cost of certifying the -229 on the F-15EX.

Although the Air Force said Pratt & Whitney was a “qualified bidder,” neither it nor the company would say whether Pratt & Whitney had actually certified its engine on the F-15EX. Only two developmental F-15EX aircraft are flying, and both are involved with other testing—concurrent operational and developmental tests.

Pratt & Whitney also recently lost out in the competition to re-engine the B-52 bomber fleet—a contest won by Rolls-Royce North America—but seems well placed to earn engine improvement work for the F-35 fighter, if the Air Force decides it cannot afford to adopt one of the Adaptive Engine Transition Program engines developed by Pratt and GE in that fighter.

CMSSF: With Incoming Transfers, Sorting Through Promotions Will Be More Work With ‘Better Outcome’

CMSSF: With Incoming Transfers, Sorting Through Promotions Will Be More Work With ‘Better Outcome’

Nov. 12, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

As the Space Force looks to implement its new human capital plan and incorporate Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen into one new culture, the service’s top enlisted member does “worry a little bit” about getting it all right.

Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force Roger A. Towberman, speaking Nov. 11 at a virtual event hosted by the Center for Space Policy and Strategy, acknowledged the enormity of the challenge facing him and other USSF leaders as they try to revamp how the military approaches some fundamental personnel matters, while adding that, “I think we’ve got a good idea of where we want to go.”

“Just a couple weeks ago, I was talking to one of the former Chief Master Sergeants of the Air Force, and I said, ‘You know, I think I was set up pretty well—I think I understood what I was getting into,’” Towberman said. “I knew how hard I was going to have to work. I knew the change we’re going to have to manage. I understood a lot of what I was stepping into, or thought I did. The one thing that I did not fully appreciate is the weight, … like I’ve led organizations before, large organizations, and I loved every single member of those organizations. This is different. So I do worry a little bit, because I feel this weight to get this right.”

One of the biggest personnel issues Towberman and other leaders will have to face is the promotion process. The Space Force has already split from the other services by saying it wants to use promotion boards instead of tests for every rank above E-4, a plan it is expanding in 2022.

But as the service starts to welcome transfers from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, trying to compare promotion candidates with wildly different backgrounds in different services will be a challenge, Towberman said.

“When I look at an NCO [evaluation report] of a Soldier next May in our first time that we bring them in, how will I compare their [professional military education] to Air Force PME? To a Sailor’s PME? I can’t, right? Like, it’s completely different,” Towberman said.

Even between the Air Force assets that transferred to the Space Force, Towberman said, there are “micro-cultures” that have to be blended together. And because of those differences, more work is required to make sure that when it comes to promotions, evaluators cannot rely on “shortcuts or proxies that we might have used when we all knew each other.”

“Don’t look at this, don’t look at this, don’t look at any of those shortcuts. You’re really gonna have to dig into these records and really work hard,” Towberman said of the mindset. “So it’s created more work, but it’s, I think, produced a better outcome.”

It’s not just across services, either. In November, Towberman said, the Space Force will assemble its promotion boards for E-8s and E-9s. But instead of looking at different groups based on the three different enlisted career fields—cyber, intelligence, and operations—the board will look at the larger group as a whole.

“The allocations are still going by [career field], but we’re looking at them as one group, so that we can iterate on that process and see what we learn and analyze, ‘OK, if it was just one list, do we feel like we’ve dialed this in or do we have blind spots that we have to work through?’” Towberman said. “Because what I know is there are super talented people across all of those specialties. But if I look at their records through the wrong lens, there may be a group that has an advantage, and so we’re working on that lens and trying to adjust it, all while we move towards this sort of competency-based approach, which is what we really prefer.”

A Cubesat Constellation Could Start Surveilling Cislunar Space as Soon as 2024

A Cubesat Constellation Could Start Surveilling Cislunar Space as Soon as 2024

Nov. 12, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

A startup figuring out how to surveil the cislunar domain thinks a swarm of self-guiding cubesats could cover it, each revisiting the moon every 26 days. Unlike spacecraft in deep space now, its cubesats would maintain “radio silence.”

The physicist-run startup Rhea Space Activity announced an unspecified amount of funding from SpaceFund in November to advance this idea, as well as a one-year small business grant from the Air Force worth $697,000 in March. The Space Force is the end user.

The ability to field such a constellation would build on the success of two projects.

First, the company’s spacecraft navigation module—the Jervis Autonomous Module, or JAM—is set to go into service in its “first instance” in 2022 or 2023, the company said in emailed responses to questions by Air Force Magazine. It’s named for the founder of the first government intelligence agency, according to a statement announcing the SpaceFund investment, and brings together flight-proven software and hardware from past missions to create the new capability. 

The 10 centimeter, or 1u, cubesat module will determine its position based on the likes of stars, asteroids, other cislunar spacecraft, and features on the surface of the moon—then navigate autonomously. This would get around the need for two-way radio ranging with Earth ground stations to navigate—amounting to the “radio silence” the company alludes to. Company founder and astrophysicist Shawn M. Usman, whose background is in intelligence, roughly estimates the cost of two-way ranging via NASA’s Deep Space Network, which is “very overtasked right now,” in the $500,000 range.

The JAM design “will significantly decrease” the cost, number of people, and extent of communications involved in maneuvering in cislunar space “and, over time, will provide a fundamentally different way to control all manner of spacecraft,” according to the statement.

Then, in 2024, the company plans to launch a cubesat, Jervis-1, into a resonant orbit—a type of orbit that will “leverage this gravitational environment” of the three celestial bodies, Cameo Lance, the company’s director of physics programs, told Air Force Magazine. The company has devised the orbit’s trajectory specifically for the Space Force. 

A derivative of “geospatial intelligence,” the company’s concept of “lunaspatial intelligence,” or LUNINT, involves monitoring human activity on and around the moon. In one scenario, a constellation of an undisclosed number of Jervis-type cubesats could surveil all of cislunar space, looking for other satellites. Jervis-1 will have an electric propulsion system for station-keeping maneuvers “and to deviate from the trajectory if needed,” according to the company.

The company also hopes to identify additional “very specific” trajectories for the Space Force in cislunar space, also requiring “very low propellant” to maintain, Usman said. Data transfers could take place at any point during the missions.

Space domain awareness is U.S. Space Command’s initial priority in cislunar space. The command, which stood up as the Defense Department’s 11th combatant command in 2019, defines space domain awareness as an extension of the established disciple of space situational awareness, said its commander, Army Gen. James H. Dickinson, in a briefing with reporters in August. Whereas space situational awareness “is reporting on where something is in space,” Dickinson said, space domain awareness also tries to understand “the ‘why’—the intent—behind having something in space and where it is.”

The command’s deputy commander, Space Force Lt. Gen. John E. Shaw, mused in a speech that navigating the cislunar environment might call for all-new ways of thinking about space and floated ideas such as the concepts of maneuvering “upwell” and “downwell” through the cislunar gravity wells created by the Earth, moon, and sun.

NASA, meanwhile, is testing a lunar navigation system as part of its CAPSTONE mission that’s also trailblazing the orbit of the agency’s planned lunar space station, Gateway, in a scheme that would trade two-way ranging with Earth for a method that swaps signals between satellites instead.

Rhea Space Activity told Air Force Magazine, “We anticipate using [radio frequency] technology on Jervis-1 to surveil the cislunar environment. However, there are a variety of other [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] technologies we are investigating that could also prove useful in surveilling the same cislunar environment.” Company officials did not elaborate on what those might be.

Here Are the Scoring Charts for the Air Force’s New PT Test Exercises—Minus the Walk

Here Are the Scoring Charts for the Air Force’s New PT Test Exercises—Minus the Walk

Nov. 12, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

At least for now, Airmen won’t be able to walk the walk for their PT tests.

The Air Force released updated scoring charts for its revamped physical fitness test Nov. 12, with alternate exercises offered for the cardio, endurance, and strength portions of the test starting Jan. 1, 2022. Missing, however, was the 1-mile walk that the service had said it would implement as a measure of aerobic fitness.

In a Facebook post, Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass wrote that the walk was removed “until we are able to standardize the VO2 measurement equipment across every installation. We will continue working the logistics and evolution in the meantime.”

Air Force leaders had previously said that a lack of equipment and facilities across every base made alternate exercises such as swimming, biking, and rowing untenable. The plan had been to use Airmen age, weight, and heart rate at completion of the walk to determine their aerobic capacity, sometimes called VO2 max. 

While the walk is out, the other alternate exercises previewed and tested on a cross-section of the force in recent months are all included:

  • A 20-meter high-aerobic multi-shuttle run (HAMR) for the cardio portion.
  • Hand-release pushups for the strength portion.
  • Cross-leg reverse crunches or forearm planks for the endurance portion.

The traditional 1.5-mile run, pushups, and sit-ups are still available as well, and their scoring charts remain unchanged from the update released in May, when the Air Force shifted the PT test to lower minimum requirements across every age category for both men and women and also implemented five-year cohorts instead of 10 years.

The HAMR’s point total is based on the number of times an Airman can sprint 20 meters to the tempo of a progressively faster recorded beep. The third consecutive failure to cross the 20-meter line before the beep terminates the test. 

For male Airmen, the minimum number of shuttles required ranges anywhere from 10 for those over 60 years old to 36 for those under 25. The maximums are 71 and 100 or more, respectively. For female Airmen, the minimums go from one for those over 60 to 22 for those under 25. The maximum scores range from 48 to 83.

Hand-release pushups are scored by how many an Airman can do in two minutes. For men, the minimums range across age groups from 10 for the oldest group to 15 for the youngest group, and the maximums from 30 to 40 or more. For women, the minimums go from one to six, with the maximums going from 24 to 40.

Cross-leg reverse crunches are also scored in a two-minute timeframe. Men under 25 will have to complete at least 21 and up to 49, while men over 60 will have to do at least seven and up to 35. Women under 25 will be scored on any total from 11 to 47, while women over 60 will need to do at least five and a maximum of 32.

Forearm planks will be scored based on how long an Airman can hold the pose. The lowest minimum time scored across age groups for men is 25 seconds, and the maximum time is 3:35. For women, the lowest requirement is 15 seconds for those over 60, and the highest maximum requirement is 3:30, for those under 25.

“While testing these components at various installations, we received a large amount of positive feedback,” Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services, said in a statement. “The changes to the physical fitness assessments reflect what we learned and our desire to provide Airmen with additional flexibility in maintaining fitness standards.”

In order to pass the PT test, Airmen have to score 75 total points while hitting the minimum requirements in all three categories. The cardio phase is worth a maximum of 60 points, and the strength and endurance phases are worth a maximum of 20 each. 

As previously announced, the waist measurement is no longer part of the test, but Defense Department policy requires the services to measure body composition. The Air Force surgeon general has determined to use a height-to-weight ratio to fulfill that requirement and will be announcing further guidance “in the coming months,” the service said in a press release.

Air Force Faces Time Crunch to Process Thousands of COVID-19 Vaccine Exemption Requests

Air Force Faces Time Crunch to Process Thousands of COVID-19 Vaccine Exemption Requests

Nov. 10, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

Department of the Air Force policy calls for a decision within 30 days on requests for religious exemptions to mandatory vaccines from Airmen and Guardians within the continental U.S. But with nearly 5,000 Active-duty Airmen and Guardians seeking religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine, the department faces an uphill battle in trying to sort through every request within that timeframe. 

“When the process was originally established, they’re thinking they’re getting one or two, … they weren’t anticipating thousands of people,” Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek told Air Force Magazine, adding that the 30-day deadline remains the department’s goal.

The current pace would seem to be well short of that—on Nov. 3, the day after the initial deadline, the Air Force reported 4,933 individuals seeking religious exemptions. A week later, that number had dropped only 20, to 4,913.

However, the only data right now is coming from lower-level commanders, Stefanek said. Numbers from the major commands should start coming through in the next few weeks, she added.

According to Department of the Air Force Instruction 52-201, a Religious Resolution Team of commanders, chaplain corps personnel, medical providers, judge advocates, and other subject-matter experts works evaluate requests before making a recommendation to the deciding authority. As part of that process, a chaplain conducts an interview with the person seeking the exemption.

DAFI 52-201 contains a checklist for chaplains to consult as part of that interview, asking chaplains to evaluate whether the person’s beliefs “seemed honestly, consistently, and sincerely held” based on five factors:

  • Requestor is credible (consistently keeps tenets, practices, etc.).
  • Requestor’s demeanor and pattern of conduct are consistent with the request.
  • Requestor participates in activities associated with the belief(s).
  • Other persons supporting the claim are credible.
  • Request is supported by letter(s) of verification or endorsement from an organization espousing the beliefs, which are the basis for the claim.

The checklist also calls for the chaplain to discuss “alternate means of accommodating the practice” and to decide if the requestor “identified the substantial burden” of the Air Force rule that he or she feels infringes upon religious freedom.

Response to exemption requests are required within 30 days if the requestor is in the U.S. but 60 days if he or she is outside the U.S. or in the Reserve component. If the exemption request is denied, the Airman or Guardian can appeal to the Surgeon General of the Air Force, who must then respond within 30 business days.

The department has not yet approved any COVID-19-related religious exemptions. 

Yet while the number of religious exemption requests declined only slightly in the first week since the deadline, the number of medical exemptions dropped noticeably, from 1,634 to 1,460. This was primarily due to a drop in temporary medical exemptions, such as those for pregnancy or while service members await consultations for other medical issues, Stefanek said.

The number of unvaccinated Active-duty service members declined by 213, from 8,486 to 8,273, while the percentage of Airmen and Guardians who are at least partially vaccinated rose by a corresponding 0.1 percent. Of the approximately 326,000 people in the Active-duty component, 97 percent are now at least partially vaccinated, with 96.2 percent of those having received the full dose.

Meanwhile, the number of Airmen and Guardians recorded as officially refusing the vaccine increased from 800 to 972 total.

Members of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve have until Dec. 2 to become fully vaccinated, the department previously announced.

Russian Troop Movement at Ukraine Border ‘Unusual in Size and Scope,’ Pentagon Says

Russian Troop Movement at Ukraine Border ‘Unusual in Size and Scope,’ Pentagon Says

Nov. 10, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

As media reports indicate that tens of thousands of Russian troops have massed near the border with Ukraine, the Pentagon remains “concerned” about the situation and called on the Kremlin to explain itself, its top spokesperson said Nov. 10.

Last week, satellite imagery showed a “buildup of armored units, tanks, and self-propelled artillery” in the town of Yelnya, less than 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, Politico reported. Since then, more tanks have moved to the region near the border, reported Bloomberg.

Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby confirmed in a press briefing that the Defense Department is monitoring “unusual military activity inside Russia, but near Ukraine’s borders.”

Kirby has previously refused to comment on assessments of how many Russian troops are near the border, but the Ukrainian government has said 90,000 are in the region after a series of drills, Reuters reported.

A similar situation unfolded in April, when Ukraine said Russia massed more than 80,000 troops near its border only to later reverse course.

This time, Russia’s intentions are not clear, Kirby said. “We obviously would like to better understand that. And we don’t want to see any action further destabilize what is already a very intense part of the world,” he said. “We urge Russia to be clear about their intentions and to abide by their Minsk agreements.”

Russia and Ukraine have been in conflict for years now, highlighted by the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea. The U.S. and Ukraine signed a deal in September to build up the Eastern European democracy’s defenses, and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III visited the country in October as part of his swing through Eastern Europe.

“The United States calls on Russia to end its occupation of Crimea, to stop perpetuating the war in eastern Ukraine, to end its destabilizing activities in the Black Sea and along Ukraine’s border, and to halt its persistent cyberattacks and other malign activities against the United States and our allies and partners,” Austin said at the time.

On Nov. 10, Kirby declined to explain whether the U.S. had assessed what kinds of units or capabilities the Russians had moved near the border, but he did say the movement was “unusual because of the size and the scope,” adding that “it’s got our attention, no question about that.”

Pressed on why he couldn’t provide an assessment of the Russian capabilities, Kirby referred those questions to the Russian government.

“I would like to see the folks in Moscow get asked these kinds of questions and answer them honestly and transparently. That’s not happening, though, is it?” he said. “So we’ll do the best we can to be as transparent about what we’re seeing, inside the appropriate lines of classification. But we’re watching this and we’re watching that closely.”

Karen Donfried, assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, told the Associated Press that “any time we see unusual Russian military activity near Ukraine, we make clear that any escalatory or aggressive action is of great concern to the United States.”

Minot B-52s Fly Bomber Task Force Mission With UK Over North Sea

Minot B-52s Fly Bomber Task Force Mission With UK Over North Sea

Nov. 10, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Air Force Global Strike Command integrated B-52s from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., with B-1s and a host of British aircraft from RAF Fairford, England, for exercises over the North Sea on Nov. 10.

The Bomber Task Force Europe mission included a targeting activity using conventional and precision-guided munitions to strike air, land, and sea targets that practiced interoperability with coalition forces, according to a release.

B-52 aircraft from the Minot’s 5th Bomb Wing, B-1B Lancers from the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, and British aircraft including Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 aircraft, F-15D Eagles, F-15E Strike Eagles, and KC-135 Stratotankers participated in the mission.

In August, B-2s from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., similarly deployed to Iceland for an integration exercise with NATO partners, including Norway, over the North Sea. U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa commander Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian explained the importance of North Sea exercises to journalists at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Sept. 21.

Harrigian mentioned doing “a lot of work with the Norwegians continuing to refine our … tactics, techniques, and procedures and in terms of interoperability,” he explained. “Demonstrating again, the importance of what I quantify as muscle memory being built, just by the fact that they’re there and working through how we’re actually going to execute with them.”

Harrigian underscored the communications perspective of missions in the North Sea and on ranges off the coast of the United Kingdom.

“[We] leverage some of the inherent UK capabilities to work, specifically, the interoperability and [tactics, techniques, and procedures] challenges that we know are out there,” he said.

The USAFE commander spoke about fifth- to fourth- and fourth- to fifth-generation interoperability challenges and practicing Link-16 data transmission with coalition partners in an encrypted format.

“The more you practice it, the better prepared we’ll be in the future,” he said.

Bomber Task Force rotations have brought all three U.S. bombers to the European and African theaters since 2018 to practice rapid deployment at unfamiliar airfields as well as integration with NATO allies and partners.

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day

Nov. 10, 2021

“Each generation of Americans calls on its best to come and serve. In today’s all-volunteer military, not many need to answer that call. Those few who do, hue to a higher call,” says AFA president retired Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright in his Veterans Day message. “We are all citizens, but only some have earned the privilege to be called veterans.”